Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
June 25, 2009 – The World Wind Energy Award has been given for Minister Smitherman’s outstanding achievements in making Ontario the leading wind energy jurisdiction in North America. Under his political responsibility and leadership in the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, the Green Energy and Economy Act was initiated and adopted as a decisive step in establishing a strong domestic wind and renewable energy industry in Ontario
August 17th, 2009 – Today it became public that Hydro One has asked the Ontario Energy Board for permission to raise the cost of distribution to all Ontario customers an average of 9.5% in 2010 and 13.3% in 2011 to cover $266 million dollars in costs relating to their four year Green Energy Plan for 2010 to 2014. By 2011 the impact of this $266 million will be an average increase of 24.3% over two years on the delivery portion of every Ontarian’s hydro bill.
Just to give fellow Ontario electric power users an idea as to where their rates are headed currently we pay 5.7 to 6.6 cents per kWh for electricity.
A local dairy farmer is producing electricity with a manure digester and is being paid 14 cents per kWh for that power.
The large wind turbines and large solar parks are paid 40-some cents per kWh.
Small generation ( I can’t remember just how small feeding into the grid) is paid 82 cents per kWh.
So you don’t have to be math wiz to figure out where the rates are really headed and only 24% might sound good yet!
This should finish off any business or industry that has managed to survive in the province so far.
Just keep voting friggin’ Liberal Toronto.
I told you, KevinB, they are not frittering away anything. Prices are being jacked up.
First Dalton the liar who promised not to increase taxes inflicted Ontarians with OHIP premiums which Mike Harris had eliminated, then McGuinty saddled ONtarians with Hydro rate increases and his next present to Ontario will be a harmonized sales tax in 2010 which will tax everything at 13%. And fools wonder why Ontario is going down the tubes.
I was going to mention the Hyperion solution as well. Factory sealed, and need to be shipped back every 7-10 years for refueling. 25-30 Million each.
I wonder how the price compares with the big CANDU’s we have now. Certainly we can reduce the amount of loss we have by generating power closer to the consumer.
Obiwan Kenobi:
In law, they would call your answer “non-responsive”. I share a small bungalow in Richmond Hill with another person. We both have extensive computer systems, which are on a lot. I have an electric bike which I recharge every day. We have A/C, but set the temp and timer so it doesn’t get used much in the day. Our electricity bills rarely exceed $60/month. Using my $0.10 per kW/h pricing, we use about 600 kW/h per month. That’s about 20 kW/h per day, or less than 1 kW/h per hour. Your parents are using more than FOUR TIMES that amount. Again, I ask: what are your parents doing that require this amount of energy?
Ezekiel saw a blade a turnin’
way in the middle of the air.
Aaron said “Any accountants here? Can you explain to an accounting challenged how it is possible for labour costs to grow despite outsourcing and global economic decline?”
Labour costs are measured as a percentage of sales. If sales go down your labour costs go up unless you lay off people. So if you have ten people making 10 widgets a day but then one day you only make 5 widgets then your labour costs will have doubled for that day unless you sent 5 people home. That’s a simplified version. So my guess would be that if your labour costs are going up plus you’re outsourcing etc then you have too many employees or you’re paying them too much.
In reality you may need all those employees but your plant is inefficient for other reasons. This could give the false impression that you have to many employees.
Best I can do.
KevinBstupid, you are wrong in every analysis you’ve done on this. First, you take the reported shortfall they’re trying to cover ($266 million) and divide it up among every resident of Ontario to show a minuscule monthly increase. But the fact is, there are not 11 million people paying the tab, it’s far less. Regardless of that, the article clearly states that they are raising rates by 24% over two years, not that they will be billing an extra $266 million divided amongst all paying customers. A 24% increase on the delivery portion of my bill will result in about $12 per month extra. And that rate increase is permanent, it’s not just until they’ve raised $266 million.
pete, I’m sure the square root of your IQ is comfortably in the single digits. First, as I’ve noted before, the 24% is a request, not a done deal. Second, if 24% of your current bill (pun intended) is $12, you’re spending about $100/month on electricity. I’ve challenged someone else who has high power bills; now I challenge you. My roomie and I can get by on $60/month, including multiple computers, A/C, electric bike, etc. Why do you need to spend so much?
And please explain why it’s wrong to figure out a per capita cost. With the possible exception of the homeless, everyone in Ontario uses electricity, and everyone pays for it in one way or another (directly, through their parents or spouse, or by the government – i.e. the rest of us through taxes).
Does anyone else remeber news footage of Minister George Smitherman being interviewed in a press scrum and Smitherman saying the rate increases for all this new “green” energy with the Green Energy Act would amount to something like 1% ??
KevinB, I have a family of 7 (myself included) and an electric stove. I’m a computer tech, so aside from the five family computers that are regularly in use, I usually have a couple to a dozen client machines sucking power too. And as far as it being a request, if they don’t get all they’re requesting this time, they’ll simply request it next year, and the year after, and the year after that too! The funny thing about publicly owned/run corporations, is they never undergo any sort of cost cutting measures. So if I don’t end up paying the 24% extra in the next two years, I’ll still end up paying it a year or two later. I’m smart enough to figure that much out, so I guess that means the square root of your IQ would be equal to your IQ, eh?
Minuteman: “I would argue that a lot of people who work at OPG are over paid, but I don’t think that I’m one of them.”
Then what about John Murphy, a techie, and the former Union Head of the Power Workers Union who strangley manages to land the position of VP of their HR department earning $200,000 plus and then a few years later a top VP earning over $700,000!!!
How the hell does that happen?